Stray Factory from will be performing as part of Speaking of Theatre 2016 on 2nd & 3rd July’16. This conversation aids in providing a peek into this Chennai based group. Do watch their collection of shorts – “Anthology“. Tickets on BookMyShow.

Introduction

Mathivanan Rajendran

(“Mathi”), founder of the award-winning Stray Factory, is a paradox – he carries with himself a precarious balance of the laidback and the passionate, the easy-going and the driven, going from an industrial engineer who’d studied the psychology of technology users to a writer-director-actor manipulating the psychology of the theatre audience. As a design researcher and theatre aficionado myself, I find this paradox exciting. I envy the seeming ease with which Mathi and Stray Factory straddle different worlds – sometimes literally. Their performances and settings range from little villages in India to the big city lights of Sydney and Dubai. Their characters span a similar range, as do their storylines and approaches. So much so that they don’t even call themselves a theatre company, preferring instead, the all-encompassing (if vague!) “entertainment collaborative”. I explored some of these questions with Mathi, founder and captain of the Stray Factory ship, as he halts at “Speaking of Theatre” a 2-day theatre confluence curated by Tahatto and Atta Galatta, on the journey to more unknowns!

Snippets from a conversation with Aarti Shyamsunder (on behalf of Speaking of Theatre):

AS: The first thing I noticed about Stray Factory is that you describe yourself as an ‘entertainment collaborative’ – not a theater company, not even a collective or ensemble Why do you describe yourselves this way? Tell us a little about the origins of Stray Factory.

Mathi: The description wasn’t really a well thought-out decision or anything…I just knew going into this, that I didn’t want to be restrictive. Ultimately it’s all about story-telling, isn’t it? We knew from the beginning that we wanted to experiment. Another reason – for the ‘collaborative’ part especially – is that I like working with people a lot, to learn by working with different mediums and different people. I founded Stray Factory in 2010 but its identity has more or less crystallized over the last 3 or 4 years. So at its core today, Stray Factory is both, a performing arts company and a new media (including digital and online) company. We are also very interested in exploring the ‘glocal’ entertainment idea – using local aesthetics but being able to present stories to a global audience.

AS: What is the inspiration behind your productions?

Mathi: 90% of our work is original. We realized that the stories that excite us aren’t on paper yet, and so we decide to write them! We enjoy the process a lot but are still open to others’ ideas – like we met this Australian playwright whose work we loved and so we performed his play. But in general, we look around us for inspiration – current events, things that bother us… We work with what people know and can bring to the table. We are an odd mix of people because of this [laughs] – we meet someone who can play the flute, or speak a new language, or have a quirky voice or body style, and we find interesting – and we find a way to incorporate them into a piece.

The downside to that, in a way, is that we are always a ‘work in progress’, always evolving our content. And we’ve realized that that is okay!

AS: And Anthology? Is that work-in-progress? What’s the connection between these 5 short plays?

Mathi: The plays are not connected in terms of storylines, but there are similarities across them. The same people perform all of them, stylistically there are some common threads. But they’re a mix – some of them are just brilliantly performed, even if the writing is just average, others are written better…The language of theatre keeps changing, and these plays reflect various stages of where we are in that evolution too.

AS: One thing that keeps changing for you is where you perform. Stray Factory seems to have performed all over the world. How did that happen? Do you have a favorite venue or experience to share?

Mathi: You know, we weren’t even thinking about this consciously…were always just keen to learn. We like borrowing locally from a lot of the places we go to as well. E.g. on our trip to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur – we just loved the way they speak. So we localized our performance a little bit, used a little Malay etc. In Sydney – the sense of humour is unnerving and raw. But through a workshop there, we also picked up things like how they speak, how they get things done – it’s so professional and classy – like, they serve wine before the show!

One of my favourite experiences was when I was in South Africa – this was by myself actually, and it was for a monologue performance. But I had no clue what I was doing – I learned to do everything myself, right from setting up at the venue, to distributing flyers, to actually performing – and then I walked out feeling so special, but nobody gave a shit! I really cherish that experience J

Another memorable experience was in South Africa – we performed for prisoners at a jail there. The first shock was that they were all so young – 18 and 19 year olds! After the performance, we asked what they were in for – most of them were in for rape!! We came away questioning what we had just done – we share a special relationship as performers, with our audience, but these were rapists! It makes you think…

But no matter where we’ve gone, we have had fun and learned a great deal.

AS: Any favourite spaces to perform?

Mathi: I think it will always be the Alliance (Francaise) for me, in Chennai. It’s a personal thing – it takes me back to when I was starting out, as a 21-year-old with no direction or no idea about it all. It’s a space that I cherish for those memories.

AS: And how have things changed? Is there anything you dislike about the theatre scene today?

Mathi: There’s really nothing to hate…but I wish some things were different. Like, the amount of infrastructure support and focus on the arts is abysmal. We are making ourselves intellectually poor because of this…we don’t even have spaces for people to rehearse. Theatre runs on the goodwill of people. Lots of artists have lost out on great opportunities because the support simply doesn’t exist. For instance, in Chennai – everywhere you go, you see so many temples, posters and statues of politicians etc. but no visible symbol of support for the theatre or similar art forms! Even if there’s no monetary support, there are other ways to support theatre – like giving us space and just honouring it.

Another thing that annoys me is that some people have distilled theatre to a very simplistic thing – it’s because of this cinematic culture – people used to the world of cinema don’t have the right measures to critique theatre, yet they do.

Oh, and I really hate it when people ask me, “What’s the message in your play” – as if it’s this pure, moral medium which should be a moral or social message. Sometimes, it’s just fun and entertainment! I say, respect the purity of the process, but enjoy the outcome with a more easy-going attitude!

AS: How are events like Speaking of Theatre helping? What are you looking forward to with your involvement in SoT 2016?

Mathi: Very simply – sharing experiences with others. There is no single way to do it “right” – to create a theatre company or a show. But I do know that our experiences have been unique and interesting. In forums like SoT, if I am able to share my story then others understand that this is yet another way to approach theatre – there are so many options. We spend too much time consuming all day – it’s time to take ourselves a little more seriously and share more with others, and that’s what I’m looking forward to with SoT!

Fade Into Red is a multicultural women’s fiction novel based in Tuscany and Mumbai. Ayra Krishnamurthy is a dusky, slightly neurotic, convent educated, pretty girl’s sidekick that always wanted to be an Art Historian. At twenty, she saw her self flitting between galleries and calling out ‘Going thrice!’ to high maintenance curators and talking Michelangelo and Dali with glamorous ease. Instead at twenty-nine,life has conspired to make her an underpaid investment banker in Mumbai juggling an eccentric family, a fading career and long -distance relationship that is soon becoming a light-year one. But on one monsoon day in July, she is suddenly sent packing from Mumbai to Tuscany to buy a vineyard for a star client. What should have been a four day trip turns into a two week treasure-hunt that finds her a midst midnight wine deals, dodgy vintners, rolling Tuscan hills and one playboy millionaire who is looking to taste more than just the wine.

Reshma Krishnan Barshikar is the author of Fade Into Red (Random House India), which debuted in the Top 10 Amazon new releases.

She works as a freelancewriter and focus primarily on travel. She contributes regularly to the National Geographic Traveller, India Today Travel Plus, Harper’s Bazaar, The Hindu, The Hindu Business Line, and travel magazines globally.

In conversation with Chris Avinash from Retronome on the journey of the Band so far and how they do what they do.

Tell us about yourselves. How was the band formed?

Formed in 2009 – when I was Director of Kyra. The band was formed initially as the house band – we started performing outside of kyra by 2009 end

Tell us about your first gig…and how has the journey been so far.

Our first gig was for the 20th year re-union of the Old Cottonians of the1989 batch! Its been a fun-filled and highly rewarding journey thus far – we’ve played over 250 concerts – for a variety and hue of clientele!

Bangalores is based on an interesting concept of thinning the lines between live music and theater. What made you venture into something like this?

We saw this as a brilliant opportunity to play out to a totally different kind audience in a totally different setting!! The challenge was, as the rest of the band says, to see how Chris could actually shut up and sit down… while other things happened!

Who’s the naughty one, lazy one and the disciplined one of the group?

Naughty – Chris, Sometimes saggy
Lazy – Uday (used to be till he started being part of the faculty of an International school)
Disciplined – All of us – it’s quite an essential thing to be when you’re playing out to corporate audiences almost all the time!

What do draw your inspiration from for your works?

Haven’t reached a point where I need to draw Inspiration – this is almost like second nature to all of us!

What are the other interesting projects you are working on?

Quite a few things actually. Here you go:

Ricchas original music – and a concert for it by end december/jan

Retronome will also get into the college fest space next year – under a different name – and play out more contemporary covers.

Ryan is in the middle of executing a Rush Tribute with another line-up.

A few members of this band are involved with Chris’s solo project in kannada/tamil/hindi/english

We are rehearsing a practically new set for our performance to the Google employees – for their annual day. This is the second time in the same year we have been invited to perform for them.

There is the all consuming NEW YEARS EVE concert – we are trying to pretend that we find it impoRTANT – and are working our scgedules to accomodate rehearsals for that 3hour non-stop performance – but realistically we’ll probably get time to pull that off only post 25th Dec!!

What is Retronome doing when not performing?

We’d like to say practicing – but that would be a blatant lie! We’re all doing our own thing!

Your Golden Ticket! Not to Charlie’s Chocolate Factory but indeed to a magical world. The world where imagination knows no bounds and fun never seizes to exist.

Its the world of theatre and you are invited for a special tour. As part of the tour, you will get to meet our Puppets staging the Shakespeare play – “Romeo & Juliet” however not the Shakespeare way…

You will get hold of them while they are on ‘The Run’!

Umm…Running to where?

Nowhere! By a ‘Run’, we mean staging the play from start to end in its simplest form. No costumes, no lights, no elaborate sets. You will get to experience the performances and the script in its purest form.

The Run will be followed by an interaction with the actors and director where you can question various aspects of the play, lay down your perspectives, provide feedback and help us further evolve the play.

Ok I am hooked…Tell me more about the play!

What if a bunch of puppets broke off their strings one night in an empty auditorium and decided to perform the only story they know – Romeo and Juliet? With no one watching, they do their own version of their story.. one that is irreverent, crazy and replete with pop-culture. And yet, quite unknowingly, they stay with the essence of the story – ‘our destiny is not in the stars, but in our choices’. Winner of the prestigious Hindu Metroplus Playwright Award, Prashanth Nair’s script brings Shakespeare together with contemporary sensibilities, Bollywood and comedy.

I am a huge fan of movies, dance, drama, plays and anything of the sort. Some could say I just like to sit and watch other people do all the work. I say I am a sucker for good storytelling. What I have always been intrigued about, though, is what happens backstage and all the work that goes into creating a play. I mean, I was involved with the Drama Society at school but that isn’t what the real thing is like, now is it? So when my friend invited me to the rehearsal run of Tahatto’s upcoming play, Romeo and Juliet – no strings attached, my happiness knew no bounds! Okay, maybe that’s exaggerating but I did jump at the idea and agreed to it before he could change his mind and, hence, began my little journey to the world of rehearsals, chaos, criticisms, self-analysis and production woes that precedes the act we see on stage.

What I found was a group of dedicated people working hard to learn their lines, get their blocking and comic timing right, and slip in the occasional thought-provoking bits amidst a myriad of emotions. Luckily enough, I got to see the whole play during the rehearsals (well, almost). The practice ended right before the climax and left me wanting for more and you know it’s worth the buck when you are left with that feeling.

The play is about puppets breaking free and presenting the classic romantic tragedy in a manner they would like to. However, not for a second must you think that it is anywhere close to what you would have read. The story is an interesting rendition of the classic. There’s something quite liberating about the twists and perspectives you can weave into a story by changing the parameters that originally ruled it. We now have a set of puppets who have suddenly found the freedom to play out their own rendition. Will they choose to do what they have always done or will they choose to play it out differently? Will their real self be reflected in their characters? Will they agree with their characters’ choices or will they question them? Will they still identify with the Elizabethan times or will the modern affect them? The possibilities are endless.

As with every rehearsal, this one ended (again, sadly, right before the climax) with a session of gruesome slaughter. I witnessed deliberations between the actors, the director and every member of the team who had anything to say and yes, they were nice enough to ask for my opinion too. Were the lines right? What about the timing? The cues? How should the stage be set? Should a scene be re-written? Should the scene even be there? For me, someone on the outside, I could see “Romeo and Juliet” evolve right in front of me.

Actors at work

It wasn’t all work and no play though. Taking every criticism in their stride, the group gorged on numerous veg puffs and butter-laden freshly baked biscuits enjoying a much-needed break. While trying to practice their action sequences (true, there is actual physical violence!), and they have the bruises to prove that they practiced, they spilled many a cups of tea. No sir, not your average masala tea, but Rose Tea (which some thought tasted like Rooh-afza), Jasmine Tea, Lemon Tea, White Tea (whatever that is!) and Earl Grey. So besides learning the nuances of theatre, I now have the knowledge of hoards of different flavors of tea. And while we are at it, I also know, how an Ethiopian goat-herder’s energized flock led to the discovery of coffee. It was a fulfilling experience witnessing such a talented group in action and getting a glimpse of their idiosyncrasies. Just to let you in on a few:

Chris: loves learning lines and he has quite a task in this play. He can play a mean tune on the guitar and seems to know everyone that we know. He may just be the missing link in evolution.

Anshul: believes he is a very talented joke teller. Unfortunately he is the only one who believes that.

Shashank: The new villain in a telly soap, Shashank is now a recognizable face, something he loves and will never accept.

Rijul: The youngest of the lot, he always asks a hundred questions before getting into a scene, most of which have nothing to do with anything.

Kelly: is the tea connoisseur of the group. So if you see a certain curly-haired pretty lass on a wild rampage through the tea racks of a store, you know who that is!

I am peeved about not knowing what happens in the end, as you must already have felt it, what with my mentioning it over a hundred times! They’ve definitely got me hooked. The rehearsal has got me thinking and without giving out the spoilers, here’s an exercise I’d suggest you do before you go for “Romeo and Juliet”; make a list of questions you’d ask if you had the chance to paint the story in your color and have a fun time matching them with what happens on the stage.

“Romeo and Juliet – no strings attached’ is traveling to Chennai and Coimbatore for the prestigious Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Festival this August following which they come back to namma Rangashankara on 27th and 28th of August. I know I’ll be there!

And you should too. Trust me on this – no strings attached.

]]>http://www.tahatto.com/blog/2013/08/07/a-day-at-the-rehearsal/feed/3Plays I watched in Germanyhttp://www.tahatto.com/blog/2013/05/29/plays-i-watched-in-germany/
http://www.tahatto.com/blog/2013/05/29/plays-i-watched-in-germany/#respondTue, 28 May 2013 21:01:56 +0000http://www.tahatto.com/blog/?p=249read more→]]>This post is by Tahatto Member – Badrivishal Kinhal sharing theatre experiences during his 1year long stay in Germany.

The first few things that you learn being in Germany is that the country is not just about what we are made to believe it to be, although some of the known stereotypes grow stronger being here. Worldwide, Germany is still identified by the 12 year Nazi rule though the country’s history spreads far before and after this dark period. What is quite inspiring is how the country has bounced back from being crippled in economy, population and with a big hole in self respect. I feel lucky to have come to this country when it is enjoying the most peaceful and prosperous times ever.

There is so much of art in this country and the history of art and literature goes far beyond the borders. A German writer, Thomas Mann writes “Can one be a musician without being a German?”. It is hard to discard him as a chauvinist, when you know that Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and scores of other great music definers are from this country. And even one of the greatest contemporary musician, Hans Zimmer, who can make even an ordinary hollywood movie exceedingly fabulous to watch, is from Germany.

The world of ancient and modern literature has always enjoyed some pathbreaking works from German writers. Grimm brothers have taken fairy tales to such dark corners of imagination that they continue to fascinate the grown ups and the kids alike. They continue to inspire the academics, the novelists, film makers and story tellers in every country and every culture across the world. Sigmund Freud, Gunter Grass who continue to keep us hooked to their words, wrote in German.

Being a theatre enthusiast, I could encounter some inside process and culture associated with German theatre, art, music and literature.

Here is an account of my experience being an audience and a observing student of a small part of German theatre for over a year. I was lucky to land in Germany right in the middle of the Trans Europa Theatre festival that was happening in Hildesheim. A week long festival with events playing all day long gave me an exciting start to my stay in Germany.

I watched 3 plays, 2 street plays and participated in 2 workshops over the week. Being a regular at each venue of the festival over that week helped me meet and interact with some really interesting people, mostly the students of theatre from the university of Hildesheim. The more I interacted with them, the more I understood about how little I understood theatre. The process of making an audience watch, listen and feel, felt so much more than the writer, director, production, stage, script, rehearsal, posters, tickets, audience theatreosphere. I could not contribute much in a conversation related to theatre, which for a while was demoralizing. In my defense, I have never been a theatre student academically but have enjoyed being in the circle of thyaatar people through Tahatto, our theatre group in Bangalore. But probably they soon realized that they cannot ignore me anymore. Why would an Indian guy who can hardly understand the language keep coming to watch German shows and sit through in the venues long after the shows are over? Well, I myself had not seen it that way until one student told me about it. Some of them were extremely sweet to sit with me long after the shows and explain in detail about the play when I told them I could not follow the text. This made me watch even more shows and very soon I could start catching their frequency of conversation which made watching plays with them more interesting and exciting.

Here I write a short notes on few plays I watched in Hildesheim, Germany for over a year from May 2012. The below notes are not the reviews of the plays, but only some points that I found interesting about each of those plays.

The Love Below:

A play, part of the Transeuropa festival was a musical of a humble scale. Staged in TheaterHaus, the playground of the students of Theater University of hildesheim, the Love below had a stage setting of a jazz music band. And in fact it was an evening of music with a strong story of relationships unfolding along with the tunes from the film Boogie Nights. It is always an asset when the stage actors can sing. And the group (James and Priscilla) showed their acting and singing skills quite efficiently.

Again a piece from the Transeuropa, this was one of the most bizarre experimental theatre event I have ever witnessed. With only little experience of being a theatre audience and some occasions being on the other side of the stage, I was mostly used to the theatre where we rehearse and reproduce. But this had nothing of that kind. Firstly there was no stage. And then there were no actors. Well, there were people who welcomed the audience into the hall with no obvious sets. One sofa somewhere in the corner of a big hall, a camera mounted on a tripod pointed at the sofa made up all the sets there were. Audience settled down and some instrumental music began. No one spoke for about 5 minutes into the “show”. The 3 people (organisers) went and sat on the sofa posing for a photograph. One came and clicked a picture. Then what? One of them walked towards the audience and took one to the sofa hand holding him. He was made to pose with the others. This set the tone for what was meant to happen for the next 90 minutes. Soon audience realized they are not just there to see a performance but to perform..So they started having fun posing..I was called in twice and tried to be different on both occasions. Admittedly, I started having fun too. Then a girl started to take off her clothes as she posed. To my surprise, only I was feeling a bit unusual about it, but just for a while. But that is when I missed my friends from Tahatto, with whom I am used to watching so many great and lousy plays. Soon the lady had nothing on and I was under a constant fear of that being the order of the rest of the evening. But thankfully it wasn’t. Apart from one man taking the cue and stripping for the photo shoot. Now the audience got the feeling of a show, as two people posed au naturale. Some more poses with the new lead actors and then the music went off, and so did the people.

Ticket said this, and I should have understood: “Good night, thank you for coming! To start the performance we would like to invite all of you to take a photo together with us. You can stay on or around the sofa.”

Partner Ship:

A play devised in collaboration with the students of Hildesheim theater university and an Icelandic group, was a confluence of personal experiences forming a single narrative. As I could not follow the text of the play, I was content noting the more visual aspects of the play. Especially the props and the lighting. The show started off on a magical note with just a pair of boots on stage. It was beautiful the way just the boots were lit and nothing else was visible. Then they started to move and dance before the stage gained more light to reveal the actor wearing them. I felt it must have been a difficult trick to pull off. Another noteworthy lighting moment was when a girl narrates her story about her intermittent nightmare. She is camping with her family in wild and she wakes up in the middle of the night to see some creatures approaching her. She thinks they are wolves, but cant tell because she only sees their eyes, bright in the pitch dark jungle. The girl narrated with her back to the audience and moving backwards..The wolves’ eyes were created by LED lights approaching the scared girl. Brilliant! I spent sometime after the play with the actors to just talk about movies, politics and their favourite drinks. Not much theatre about it !

A play set in a restaurant. The theme of the play was the paradoxical mindset of animal lovers who don’t mind them on their plates. It’s paradox in itself that this was played out in a restaurant. However, the play was interesting in parts and tried to question people’s two faced approach to loving animals. The play seemed to be strongly preaching vegetarianism, but I cant tell for sure because I was again short on grasping the text. It had some moments of shock and eerie feeling, especially when each actor goes to one table in the restaurant and cooks something in front of the people. And hmmm…they expected us to eat that. I, being a vegetarian would have eaten a chicken tandoori, but not what was offered to me by the actor at my table. And yes, then an actor stripped bare naked (let me mention an actress). I was not surprised when it happened this time, in fact I was waiting for it. She lay on an empty table, and the other actors dressed as animals drew on her body to mark their favorite dishes and which part of an animal body it comes from. The play didn’t do much to my emotional, intellectual or theatrical senses.

Antigone:

One of the most interesting theatre devices I have seen so far. Inspired by the story of Greek mythology, the play portrayed Antigone as the first revolutionary on earth and as someone who inspires the generations of revolutionaries to come after her. The most interesting aspect of the play was that there were 5 actors, male and female and all played one single role, that of Antigone. Its like each actor is playing a part of Antigone and together they form one revolutionary idea. The play, in general hailed the idea of standing against something that we don’t believe in.

StreetCar named Desire:

Marlon Brando became a star with this play and then the movie. So there is no way I could miss this play. Even if it is played in German, even if I have to take a train and go to Hannover to watch it. Highlight of the play was that it was set in a staged caravan, but for me that was what let the play down in many ways. For a huge stage, the caravan seemed small and it constricted the actors’ movements whenever they were inside it. For the roles as powerful, they needed much more rawness in the actors which I felt missing. Made me respect Brando even more. But then I cant be that harsh on an actor whom I will never see again.

]]>http://www.tahatto.com/blog/2013/05/29/plays-i-watched-in-germany/feed/0Tahatto Auditions for Upcoming Playhttp://www.tahatto.com/blog/2012/05/07/tahatto-auditions-for-upcoming-play/
http://www.tahatto.com/blog/2012/05/07/tahatto-auditions-for-upcoming-play/#commentsSun, 06 May 2012 19:06:53 +0000http://www.tahatto.com/blog/?p=241read more→]]>Remember “Picasso at Lapin Agile” – our 2nd Production? Well whether you do or don’t, we would like to let you know that we are re-visting the english comedy written by Steve Martin. We are holding open auditions for both male and female characters on the 20th May’2012. Please drop us a note at hello@tahatto.com or click here to register. We would love to know why you would like to be a part of the production.

Tahatto Auditions for Picasso at the Lapin Agile

]]>http://www.tahatto.com/blog/2012/05/07/tahatto-auditions-for-upcoming-play/feed/1Tahatto wishes you get the Best Seats in 2012 – Happy New Yearhttp://www.tahatto.com/blog/2011/12/30/tahatto-wishes-you-get-the-best-seats-in-2012-happy-new-year/
http://www.tahatto.com/blog/2011/12/30/tahatto-wishes-you-get-the-best-seats-in-2012-happy-new-year/#respondFri, 30 Dec 2011 11:12:22 +0000http://www.tahatto.com/blog/?p=236Tweet

Tahatto Wishes Happy New Year 2012

]]>http://www.tahatto.com/blog/2011/12/30/tahatto-wishes-you-get-the-best-seats-in-2012-happy-new-year/feed/0Tahatto in Newshttp://www.tahatto.com/blog/2011/05/13/tahatto-in-news/
http://www.tahatto.com/blog/2011/05/13/tahatto-in-news/#respondFri, 13 May 2011 07:39:13 +0000http://www.tahatto.com/blog/?p=231read more→]]>This is an awesome day for Tahatto. After being around for 2 years, we have finally made it big in News. We are in Bangalore Times, next to all the happening people, in the “What’s hot” section. What more can one ask for.

Life is not just a box of chocolates. Life is an entire unlimited meal, full of flavours you’ve never tasted before. Full Meals – Tahatto’s highly-rated recipe revamped and rehashed, with 6 original short plays and a whole new narrative. Ask anyone who’s ever caught a show, and they’ll tell you that this is one meal that you just can’t afford to miss. And what’s more, this one is guilt free, because 10 Rs. from each ticket feeds an underpriviliged child. So that when you watch Full Meals, a hungry kid gets to eat one.